Boko Haram Militants Attack Chad for First Time

Local Editor

Suspected Nigerian Boko Haram militants carried out an attack on Chad overnight, the first such assault on Chadian soil.

Boko Haram fighters attacked a Chadian village overnight, killing several people in the first known lethal attack by the Nigerian militant group in the country.

Officials said about 30 fighters crossed Lake Chad by motorboat and attacked a village on the shores of the lake setting houses ablaze in the village of Ngouboua.

A resident of the village on the shores of Lake Chad said, "They came on board three canoes and succeeded in killing about ten people before being pushed back by the army".

The number of casualties was unknown but Chadian officials said a local chief was killed during the attack.

Moreover, Boko Haram militants based in northern Nigeria had staged a number of cross-border attacks in recent weeks in their campaign to carve out an Extremist emirate around the Lake Chad area which borders Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Hence, Chad's army, one of the best in the region, had recently joined Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon in a military coalition against Boko Haram. It had also deployed troops in Cameroon and Nigeria to help fight the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Extremist militant group had intensified its attacks against Nigeria's neighbors over the past fortnight, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team